Lantern for street lamps



(No Model.)

G. BRAY.

I LANTERN FOR STREET LAMPS. No. 265,377. Patented 0013.3,1882.

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rra STATES a'rnn'r arrest GEORGE EBAY, OF LEEDS, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

LANTERN FOR STREET-LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 265,377, dated October 3, 1882,

Application filed August 28, 1882. (No model.) Patented in England February 28, 1882, No 970.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE BRAY, a citizen of England,vresiding at Blackman Lane, Leeds, in the county of York, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lanterns for Street and otherExposed Lamps,-

(for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 970, hearing date February 28, 1882,) of which the following is a specification.

In lanterns for street -lamps and for lamps used in railway-stations and other exposed situations it is of great advantage to provide a hole of considerable size at the bottom of the lantern, so as to give access to the burners for lighting and other purposes. The existence of such a hole is, however, very prejudicial to the action of the lamp, in consequence of the currents of air admitted through it.

My invention relates to means of providing an automatic closure or partial closure of such a hole in a lantern, which I effect in the following manner: I provide a ball of diameter larger than the hole, and place it within the lantern so that it will be housed and be free to move about in its housing and automatically seat itself in the opening, so as to prevent the entrance of air, said ball acting as a valve. hen access is required for lighting or other purposes the ball is simply pushed aside by the torch or other lightinginstrument employed, and when this is withdrawn the ball, running down the slope of the bottom, resumes its place, closing the hole. WVhen the lantern is so'arranged that the air forsupplying the flame enters at the top or sides the ball may be simply a solid ball or a shell of thin metal. hen, however, the air-supply has to enter in whole or in part through the bottom of the lantern the ball is made as a shell of perforated metal or wire-gauze, so that air can pass through it in subdivided and dif fused streams.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a suspended lamp with theigniting-hole at the bottom of the glass closed byaball of perforated sheet metal-such as zinc or copper or tinned copper-the perforations admitting air and diffusing it. Such perforated balls may be made by stamping or pressing two hemispherical shells of the sheet metal and uniting them by solder or brazing. \Vhen the air for combustion enters at the upper part of the lantern a ball without perforations may be used, as shown in Fig. 2, representing a suspended lamp, or in Fig. 3, representing a lamp supported on a post or column.

Heretofore openings have been made in the bottom of the framing of street-lamps below the gas-burner, which openings are protected by hinged doors or pivoted flaps capable of being opened from the exterior, when desirable, to light the lamp, said doors or flaps remaining in their closed normal position over the openings by gravity, to prevent entrance of blasts of air. I do not claim such organization and construction, for, as before stated, the peculiarity of my invention consists in the employmentof a ball for opening and closing the orifice through which the lamp or lantern is lighted, which ball is free to roll about in its housing when acted upon by an implement in the hand of a person, and by its employment all hinges and pivots are dispensed with, and the cost andlabor of construction materially reduced, and when said ball is seated it completelycloses the orifice and prevents entrance of blasts of air.

Having thus described the nature of my intion and the best means I know of carrying itinto practical operation, I claim' 1. The combination, with a lantern or ex posed lamp having an opening in its bottom, of a ball having a diameter greater than the opening, said ball being free to rotate about its housing and seat itselfin the opening by gravity, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a lantern or exposed lamp having an opening in its bottom, of a ball composed of a shell of perforated metal or wire-gauze, having a diameter greater than the opening, said ball being free to rotate about its housing and seat itself in the opening by gravity, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofl have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing wituesses, this 5th day of August, A. D. 1882.

V GEO. BRAY.

Witnesses:

J. WATT,

17 Gmccchurch St, London. J NO. P. M. MILLARD,

28 Southampton Buildings, London. 

